Ann M. Donnelly
How Judge Donnelly rules, drawn from 31 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Donnelly
Ann Marie Donnelly is a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge Donnelly received a commission on October 21, 2015.
Judge Donnelly's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Donnelly, as published on the court's website (checked October 8, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Filing
Send physical courtesy copies only if the Court requests them.
“Parties should only send physical courtesy copies of ECF filings to the Court at the request of the Court.”
Conferences
Request an adjournment at least 48 hours before the deadline or appearance absent an emergency.
“Absent an emergency, all requests for adjournment are to be made at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled deadline or appearance.”
Standing orders for every case in this court
Orders the court applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 10, 2026).
How Judge Donnelly decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Hall v. City of New York, she granted the defendants’ summary judgment motion and denied the plaintiff’s cross-motion after finding that he had not exhausted the available prison grievance process.
“The record shows that the plaintiff did not exhaust his administrative remedies. Accordingly, the Court denies the plaintiff’s motion and grants the defendants’ motion.”
Procedural preferences
In Welsh v. United Parcel Service, Inc., she held that service six days beyond CPLR 205(a)’s six-month window was too late, while acknowledging that the result deprived the plaintiff of a merits decision.
“Under the plain text of the statute, service on May 2 was simply too late.”
In Dunston v. Piotr and Lucyna LLC, she adopted an unopposed recommendation denying default judgment because the plaintiff did not establish standing and counsel’s assurances did not satisfy the default judgment requirements.
“As Judge Bulsara observed, counsel's assurances to the contrary do not satisfy Rule 55. ... I find that Judge Bulsara's thorough and well-reasoned opinion contains no clear error, and I adopt the Report and Recommendation in its entirety.”
In Gilead Sciences, Inc. v. Safe Chain Solutions, LLC, she adopted a recommendation for case ending discovery sanctions after finding one defendant’s year of willful noncompliance prejudiced the plaintiff and lesser sanctions would not induce compliance.
“Judge Reyes found that Abdullaev’s complete noncompliance with his discovery obligations over the course of one year was willful, that it prejudiced the plaintiff, and—given his disregard of prior court orders—a lesser sanction would not induce Abdullaev’s compliance.”
In two reviewed reconsideration rulings, she rejected efforts to revisit an earlier decision through disagreement with its reasoning or material that had not been submitted to the original judge.
“Rather, the defendant does not agree with her decision, but that is not a basis for granting reconsideration.”
In a reviewed wage settlement, the court adopted a recommendation to deny approval without prejudice even though the settlement amount was fair, because the agreement’s release, non-disparagement, and no-rehire terms prevented approval in its present form.
“He determined that the settlement amount was fair, but that other provisions of the settlement agreement ‘ma[d]e it impossible for the court to approve it in present form.’”
Cautions
In Joe Hand Promotions, Inc. v. Manetta, she vacated the plaintiff’s notice of voluntary dismissal filed after an adverse recommendation and adopted the recommendation, finding that the notice would bypass the review procedure.
“Allowing the plaintiff to bypass this procedure would perpetuate procedural 'abuses' that Rule 41(a)(1) was designed to 'limit.' ... I vacate the plaintiff's notice of voluntary dismissal and adopt the Report and Recommendation in its entirety.”
In Dunston v. Piotr and Lucyna LLC, she denied default judgment because the plaintiff’s allegations did not establish an imminent and substantial risk of injury to support standing.
“Without these details, the plaintiff has not established an 'imminent and substantial' risk of injury.”
In a reviewed residential foreclosure case, the lender could not obtain default judgment or summary judgment after omitting the certificate of merit required with its complaint.
“The plaintiff does not dispute that it did not include a certificate of merit with the complaint.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For these reasons, the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment is denied and the defendants' motion for summary judgment is granted.”
“For these reasons, the defendant's motion to dismiss is granted. The plaintiff's motion to consolidate is denied as moot.”
“The plaintiff's motion to consolidate is denied as moot.”
“For these reasons, the defendant's motion to dismiss is granted. The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to enter judgment, close this action, and mail a copy of this order to the plaintiff.”
“For the following reasons, I adopt the Report and Recommendation in its entirety, and grant the plaintiff leave to amend the complaint.”
“The plaintiff's motion for default judgment is denied without prejudice, but the plaintiff may amend its complaint within thirty days and, if appropriate, renew its request for default judgment.”
“Because the plaintiff agrees that there is no basis to hold the defendant liable for negligence under a theory of either actual or constructive notice of a hazardous wet condition, the defendant's motion for summary judgment is granted.”
“For these reasons, the defendants' motion for summary judgment is granted.”
“For these reasons, the cross-motions for summary judgment are denied.”
“the plaintiff's motion is denied, and the defendants' motion is denied with leave to renew.”
“Accordingly, I adopt the Report and Recommendation in its entirety. The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to strike Abdullaev’s answer from the record and enter a certificate of default.”
“The plaintiff’s motion for default judgment is denied”
“motion for summary judgment is denied”
“For these reasons, the plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration is denied.”
“For these reasons, the defendant’s motion for reconsideration is denied.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median motion-to-ruling time: 186 days (N = 11).
- An active (non-senior) Brooklyn E.D.N.Y. judge with a busy mixed civil/criminal docket.
- The 2026 intake is dominated by a surge of 463 alien-detainee habeas corpus petitions (immigration-detention challenges), alongside FLSA/NYLL wage-and-hour suits, ADA Title III access cases, trademark/consumer-fraud matters, prisoner 2255 petitions, and criminal cases.
- Her older (2016-2019) docket sample is heavily 'In Re' miscellaneous attorney-discipline/reciprocal matters plus criminal cases; these mc dockets stay open for years administratively and are NOT representative of contested-case duration.
- Her highest-profile criminal matter: United States v. R.
- Kelly (sex-trafficking conviction; 30-year sentence 2022).
Pending matters in the official report
Reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts under the Civil Justice Reform Act, as of March 31, 2026.
| Motions pending more than six months | 0 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 22 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 22 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 20 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 23 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 27 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 29 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 34 |
| Mar 2023 | 2 | 44 |
| Sep 2022 | 1 | 39 |
| Mar 2022 | 1 | 36 |
| Sep 2021 | 1 | 33 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 16 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 17 |
A snapshot on that date: matters listed may since have been decided or reassigned. A motion referred to a magistrate judge is counted for both judges. Motions in multidistrict litigation, section 2255 cases and Social Security appeals are not counted, and a very large three-year count is generally a multidistrict docket. Source: Appendix A of the report (PDF); about the report.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, not for Judge Donnelly: median time from filing to disposition of the civil cases the court closed in the 12 months ending September 30, 2025, as reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
| Cases | Median time | |
|---|---|---|
| All civil cases closed | 7,392 | 6.7 months |
| Closed with no court action | 1,485 | 3 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 5,022 | 6.9 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 835 | 13.9 months |
| Closed during trial | 50 | 49.6 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 7,392 | 6.7 months |
| Sep 2024 | 7,879 | 5.8 months |
| Sep 2023 | 7,746 | 5.1 months |
| Sep 2022 | 7,588 | 6.2 months |
| Sep 2021 | 6,709 | 7.9 months |
| Sep 2020 | 6,062 | 8.6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 6,858 | 8.1 months |
The table leaves out prisoner petitions, land condemnations, deportation reviews, recovery of overpayments and enforcement of judgments, and reports no median for fewer than 10 cases. A district that closed a large multidistrict litigation in the period shows very large counts and long medians for that year. Source: Table C-5, U.S. District Courts (spreadsheet).
Draft for Judge Donnelly with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Donnelly, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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